DayZ Creator: "I Am Angry About The War Z"

MikeWehner

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Aug 21, 2011
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DayZ Creator: "I Am Angry About The War Z"



Dean Hall sounds off on what the debacle has done to his reputation.

In an Ask Me Anything thread on Reddit this week, DayZ creator Dean "Rocket" Hall fleshed out his feelings on The War Z, the remarkably similar zombie survival MMO that was announced shortly after DayZ became a gaming phenomenon. And while it now appears clear that War Z is a hurried attempt at cashing in on the craze, Hall notes that the similarities between the two games - and even the suspiciously parallel titles - have damaged his own reputation.

"I am angry about the War Z. I'm very angry. I'm quite hurt personally because anyone can see how similar the words are, and while the average gamer knows the difference individual people don't," Hall explains. "I've had family members/close friends mistake the difference and confront me about what they believed was unethical behavior they thought I was making."

War Z developer Hammerpoint Interactive has done just about everything in its power to fumble the release of the game, managing to have the title pulled from Steam [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121200-Hammerpoint-Admits-Mistakes-in-The-War-Z-Debacle] shortly after its debut. At the time the game was put up for sale on Valve's digital marketplace, it was utterly unfinished, yet advertised all of its missing features as being present. This, of course, lead to a harsh reception from just about everyone willing to take a stance on the matter. The company later apologized, but the damage was already done.

As far as the similarities between the two games, Hammerpoint has remained consistent in its claims that it's all merely a coincidence. Early on, the company insisted that The War Z had been in development since 2011. However, some forum diving on the part of naysayers has unearthed possible evidence [http://warzscam.tumblr.com/post/37553521321/hard-evidence-war-z-development-only-lasted-6-months] that not only was the game heavily influenced by DayZ, but that War Z may have only had a 6-month development window before being pushed out to the masses.

Regardless of which side you're on, the drama between the two franchises is clearly still simmering. Hopefully the eventual release of the standalone DayZ product will be the final chapter in this weird saga of the undead.

Source: Reddit [http://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/comments/16mq1u/before_the_holidays_rocket_asked_for_harder_and/]

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Gearhead mk2

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MikeWehner said:
Regardless of which side you're on, the drama between the two franchises is clearly still simmering. Hopefully the eventual release of the standalone DayZ product will be the final chapter in this weird saga of the undead.
Implying anyone is on the side of The War Z at all. It's a horribly programmed, unfinished, rushed-out misreable pile of code and lawsuits waiting to happpen made by the guys who made Big Rigs who hold such contempt for their playerbase that they're banning random people and treatening to blacklist anyone that even whispers in defiance. It's the videogame version of that-cult-made-by-L-Ron-Hubbard-that-shall-not-be-named. Apart from the omnipresent trolls and idiots, I can't see a single person defending this game. My heart goes out to Dean, and I hope his reputation isn't too blackened by this.
 

itsthesheppy

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I feel like he's being a little dramatic. He needs to see this as an opportunity to show the world that he's the real deal and expose the wannabes for the pretenders they are. Be a man, stand up tall, and get shit done.
 

MortisLegio

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Sylveria said:
DayZ - A game so shitty it's making other games look bad.
I think you mean War Z since the article is about how the DayZ creator is angry that his reputation has been tarnished by War Z.

If you did indeed mean Day Z, well... I don't know what to say about that.

OT: I haven't played either game and have no plans to play them either, but I know how it feels to be blamed for something you didn't do and understand why he'd be angry.
 

CyberAkuma

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Anyone claiming that the War Z has been in development for longer than 6 months should have their head checked.

The games completely unfinished state clearly displays that there is no way in hell the game clearly has NOT been in development for TWO years.

I've said it before and I will say it again

 

Zombie_Moogle

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Dec 25, 2008
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My gut tells me that, at first, he was vaguely annoyed with The War Z ripping him off so hard... then someone he knew mistook their game for his, & that's when he got indignant

He may be right to some degree about bad clones hurting his professional reputation, but I'll bet this is more personal than anything
 

Proverbial Jon

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Nov 10, 2009
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The gaming community is an All-Stand-Together sort of lot over this kind of controversy. I can see DayZ getting the majority of support now that Hammerpoint Interactive's scam has been blown wide open.

I've seen games ape gameplay mechanics, clone entire games and even try to create franchise knock-offs using suspiciously similar characters, it's just seems to be kind of what happens in this industry. But this one... this just seems all the more dastardly and underhanded for some reason.
 

MikeWehner

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Proverbial Jon said:
The gaming community is an All-Stand-Together sort of lot over this kind of controversy. I can see DayZ getting the majority of support now that Hammerpoint Interactive's scam has been blown wide open.

I've seen games ape gameplay mechanics, clone entire games and even try to create franchise knock-offs using suspiciously similar characters, it's just seems to be kind of what happens in this industry. But this one... this just seems all the more dastardly and underhanded for some reason.
It's because of the way Hammerpoint went about all this. They have been outright lying about things, and then blame the gamers for "not understand." Like... what? Did the CUSTOMERS write the game description on Steam, stating features that don't even exist yet? No, Hammerpoint did, that's not the community's fault. They're taking a very "us against you" stance on this game, which is not something that most developers would even dream of doing. We're the ones writing your paychecks, Hammerpoint, if you lie to us, it doesn't sit well.
 

Ham Blitz

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I feel sorry for him, but at the same time, I can't believe his own family didn't even know what his work was called. I mean, it's possible, but that shows how much his family was paying att
CyberAkuma said:
Anyone claiming that the War Z has been in development for longer than 6 months should have their head checked.

The games completely unfinished state clearly displays that there is no way in hell the game clearly has NOT been in development for TWO years.

I've said it before and I will say it again

When you say "I will say it again", are you saying this video is you, or are you "saying" as in posting the video?

I don't know if I can add much to the topic. I could see why he's mad, especially since people are accusing him of the War Z's horrible things.
 

Eduardo Rivera

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Jul 6, 2011
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Why do I feel like Hammerpoint tried to use a play from the Zenga handbook.

1. Take a game people like and clone it poorly.
2. ---
3. Profit.
 

Farther than stars

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Jun 19, 2011
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Sylveria said:
The War Z - A game so shitty it's making other games look bad.
Yeah, but then let's be honest; all shitty games make other, better games look bad. Someone who's only ever played Final Fantasy games up from #10 will never play another JRPG in their life.
 

Zen Toombs

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MikeWehner said:
Dean Hall sounds off on what the debacle has done to his reputation.
Wow, this HAS done a number on his reputation. As an uninformed gamer, I actually thought that "The War Z" WAS "Day Z" released as a standalone game, and thought poorly of "Day Z" for it.

Oops.
 

Coach Morrison

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Jun 8, 2009
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I have a feeling that if Hammerpoint had chosen a name that wasn't so close to what they were ripping off. This guy might be happier. At least then the failed monstrosity couldn't be mistaken for the mod.
 

major_chaos

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Feb 3, 2011
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Gearhead mk2 said:
Implying anyone is on the side of The War Z at all.
You have entirely too much faith in people. I have seen plenty of fanboys on both the Steam forums and Youtube comments saying that War Z is a great game and anyone who does't like it either "sucks and should go be to call of dooty" or is a Day Z fanboy.
 

Gearhead mk2

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major_chaos said:
Gearhead mk2 said:
Implying anyone is on the side of The War Z at all.
You have entirely too much faith in people. I have seen plenty of fanboys on both the Steam forums and Youtube comments saying that War Z is a great game and anyone who does't like it either "sucks and should go be to call of dooty" or is a Day Z fanboy.
Oh trust me, I know the gaming community is full of idiots. I saw one guy that said we should turn Sonic into a spunkgargleweewee series. But this... this goes beyond simple stupidity. I just cannot see anyone defending this unironically.
 

Covarr

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May 29, 2009
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MikeWehner said:
The company later apologized, but the damage was already done.
For what it's worth... The apology came after DayZ days of backpedaling, attempts at tricky wording, blaming customers for being confused, and even some flat out lying. By the time Titov apologized, I just couldn't believe he was actually sorry for the company's actions, but rather sorry that screwing over paying customers hadn't worked out in his favor.

P.S. Thanks